The Village Voice's New Year's Eve Guide

It's with good reason that more than 1 billion people around the world tune in to watch the ball drop in Times Square: No one knows how to do New Year's Eve like New York City. And while you can brave the crowds and the cold this year with none other than Miley Cyrus performing just before midnight, there are countless other ways to make the evening memorable.

Our New Year's Eve guide is packed with ideas for nearly any kind of celebration you're looking for. Get started before the sun goes down at Williamsburg's charming Maison Premiere, which opens at 4 p.m. for cocktails and oysters, a dish known for bringing good luck on New Year's. If you're not an oyster fan, but want a prosperous 2014, try Rosanjin, an authentic Japanese restaurant serving a special bowl of lucky buckwheat noodles with its elegant 10-course kaiseki dinner, or Marco's for lentils and cotechino, a traditional Italian NYE dish.

What about entertainment, you ask? While most theaters are dark tonight, the long-running Sleep No More, an interactive Macbeth–inspired drama, plays at the McKittrick Hotel along with a delectable feast and masquerade party. For music fans, the options couldn't be better. Mykki Blanco at Gramercy Theatre, Antibalas at S.O.B.'s, and Andrew "Party Til You Puke" W.K. at Irving Plaza are just a few you can count down to midnight with. If it's dancing you're after, trek over to the Bell House for The Rub's old-school, bump-n-grind house party, or hunt down Verboten's bash, featuring rising British house DJ Maya Jane Coles, at a secret location. And as the clock strikes 12, the insanity keeps going at BLKMRKT Membership's "24-Hour Party" at Output. See you on the dance floor.